Brain holds more than one road to fear

FEAR FACTORS Despite extensive damage in their amygdalae (red circles in these MRI scans), twin sisters A.M. and B.G. still can experience anxiety prompted by bodily cues, a new study shows. S. Khalsa et al/Journal of Neuroscience 2016 In a pair of twin sisters, a rare disease had damaged the brain’s structures believed necessary to feel fear. But an injection of a drug could nevertheless make them anxious. The results of that experiment, described in the March 23 Journal of Neuroscience, add to evidence that the amygdalae, small, almond-shaped brain structures tucked deep in the brain, aren’t the only bits of the brain that make a person feel afraid. “Overall, this suggests multiple different routes in the brain to a common endpoint of the experience of fear,” says cognitive…